Trump chooses coworking space for Tampa campaign HQ

A little proactive work by the founder of CoWork Tampa has landed him a big national tenant: Donald Trump.

Chris Arnoldi, founder of the coworking space at the historic Garcia & Vega cigar factory at 3104 N. Armenia Ave., said members of Trump’s Florida campaign team will start setting up this weekend.

The Trump supporter said Hillary Clinton’s campaign had made some initial inquiries but didn’t lease space, and that gave him the idea to reach out to Trump. Arnoldi said he then received a call from a Trump advisor, Mike Bowen and the following day, members of Trump’s Florida and Hillsborough County campaign teams visited CoWorkTampa to consider it as a potential operations center.

“After a brief tour, they decided it was the perfect location for the campaign’s ground game,” Arnoldi told the TBBJ.
The Trump campaign is taking an 8×8 space, the smallest of three sizes available at the facility. Two people will staff that space and 20 to 25 people will operate a phone bank in the facility’s event space, Arnoldi said. In addition to local campaign administration, the Trump campaign will lead neighborhood walks from the location, and host promotional activities at CoWork, he said.
A request to Trump’s national campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks seeking further confirmation is pending return.
CoWorkTampa has political experience. It was utilized in last year’s Tampa City Council race, and Guido Maniscalco hosted his watch party there, Arnoldi said.
CoWork Tampa began in 2012 and operates in 10,000 square feet. It has a 100 private office tenants and CoWork Tampa tenants. Arnold is also a principal with the social media advertising agency Uhsome.com.